Scribe and Photo by Dirk Limann
March 2005
Dear friends,
We just came back from a one-week package tour to China, Province Yunnan, which lies in the South West corner of the Country.
This trip was put forward to the middle of March, to time it with spring. However when we flew in into Kunming, the area was blanketed with fresh snow at a temperature of around 3 °C, a very rare sight here. The worst thing was that the hotels and buses do not have heating facilities, but from the next day onwards the sun came out and it went gradually warmer. When we flew back from Kunming , we had 22 °C and the trees were covered in fresh green leaves and blossoms.
The disadvantage of a package tour, especially in China is that in a day, we cover only one or two sightseeing spots with limited time but are forced to visit all kind of “factories” and “tribal shows” which are actually huge shopping outlets targeted for tourists. There is no time limit here and I hate this.
Along the way, they brought us to several parks and temples, which are colorful and picturesque, but after a while, they look all alike.
For us the most interesting visits have been to the Jiuxiang Scenic Resort. It is a limestone area with a deep gorge where the water plunges into a huge, well-illuminated, cave. At the end of the cave, a chair lift brought us back to the bus.
The ShiLin (Major Stone Forest) was formed Millions of years ago when geotectonic movements uplifted the limestone from the seafloor. Long and complicated geological processes shaped the limestone into the unique stone forest landscape as we see it to day.
On the way to the north, we stayed on night each in ChuXiong and in Dali, with some sight seeing and plenty of shopping, until we reached Lijiang (2500m), which was actually the main reason for us to make this trip.
Lijiang, the world cultural heritage, has a history of about one thousand years, established at the turn of the Song and the Yun Dynasty. Situated in the place where Yunnan, Tibet and Sichuan provinces meet, Lijiang was once an important town on the south Silk Road and Chama ancient road.
Yulong Snow Mountain, a national scenic spot, is located 15 km north of Lijiang. The thirteen peaks of the mountain look like an energetic, tremendous dragon. So the mountain is named after this shape. The main peak called “Shangzhitu” has an altitude of 5595 meters. His glacier is the most southern in the northern hemisphere.
We went by a chairlift up to the Spruce Meadow located at an altitude of 3205 meters. It was an unusually clear and warm day, which is rare here. So we circled around the brown grassy terrain, just exposed from the winter snow. The shady parts were still white and the tourists threw snow balls at each other in joy because most of them have only experienced real snow for the first time.
I hope you have enjoyed sharing the trip with us.
Dirk & Jenny
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005
The clean water from the melting snow-capped mountain and glacier spills out of the Black Dragon Pool, running into the ancient town. The water is then divided into innumerable channels, which flow through every street and alley in town. The old residential architecture of the houses is very special. There is no traffic and the cobblestones are polished by the millions of shoes walking over the years. The gurgling water, plenty of wooden and stone-arch bridges, clean alleys, flanked by weeping pillow trees and flower decorations, give the town a unique charm.
Luckily, Jenny and I spent two hours in this ancient part on our own, after the late arrival in Lijiang. At the next day, the official tour granted us a one-hour visit only. There is definitely much more to see and to discover. Most probably, we would like to come back here one day on our own to stay for a week.